No jail time for abusive Hingham daycare worker

Mary Whitfill The Patriot Ledger thelittlewreck

Friday

Jan 11, 2019 at 2:48 PMJan 11, 2019 at 3:15 PM

HINGHAM — A daycare worker who force fed and vigorously shook babies in her care will likely avoid jail time after pleading guilty on Friday, much to the frustration of parents who wanted to see her go to trial.

Marie Millette, 31, of Braintree was charged in May after police investigated several incidents of abuse at a Bright Horizons day care reported in late 2016. She pleaded guilty Friday to eight counts each of reckless endangerment of a child and assault and battery, and received a suspended six-month sentence, which she will not be required to serve if she abides by the terms of her probation for the next two years.

A handful of parents were gathered in the back of the courtroom for the sentencing, most of whom had either testified or written letters to the judge regarding the abuse of their children. Judge Neil Hourihan addressed the parents during the hearing.

"I heard families make heartbreaking statements about their children and I do characterize this as child abuse," Hourihan said. "I know it's not what many of you felt was reasonable, and I understand that wholeheartedly as a parent."

Between April and November of 2016, Millette abused seven infants by holding her hand over their mouths to stop them from screaming, shaking them to get them to go to sleep and force-feeding them to the point of vomiting, police said in a report filed in court.

Millette was employed by Bright Horizons, located inside the Blue Cross Blue Shield building on Technology Place, for six years, working with children 3 to 15 months old in the day care's infant room. It was another teacher who eventually approached administrators about Millette's behavior after 10 months of witnessing the abuse, the report says.

Parents had hoped to see Millette go to trial and were disappointed when her plea was accepted by the judge.

"I do understand the judge's reasons, but I would have liked to have seen a trial. It's not a defensible case," said John Hightower, who testified to a judge months ago about the abuse of his then 5-month-old son. "They would have been hard pressed to not sentence her to jail time. . . Now, she'll never go behind bars."

Hourihan said at least five families have filed civil lawsuits against Bright Horizons, but Hightower said he would have rather seen harsh judgement in the criminal court.

"We have closure now, somewhat. We don't really care about the civil cases, it's not about that," he said. "What we care about is having the people who are responsible pay."

A pre-sentencing investigation by the court's probation department also recommended the judge force Millette to write apology letters to parents and do community service, but Hourihan didn't impose those conditions.

"There is no disputing that (she) was somebody who was not a stellar daycare provider, but I would suggest that the conduct here is negligent rather than malicious," John Amabile, Millette's attorney said.

Hourihan said the investigation, which was not on file in the clerk's office Friday, revealed little remorse on the part of Millette.

"I was really looking for some underlying reason for these actions," Hourihan said. "The thing I took from this is that there was really no remorse and no responsibility for their actions. . . I don't see any acceptance of the wrong doing."

While on probation, Millette will be prohibited from working with children under age 16 and must undergo a mental health evaluation and treatment.